Exhibitionist: Christopher Ivory, preseason film star
 

To be perfectly honest, Christopher Ivory(notes) was just a name on a depth chart to me prior to Friday's preseason game between the Saints and Chargers.

And then he did this.

Click that link. Watch the tape. That's unbelievable. Here, I'll link it again, just to give you a second chance. You will not see a better individual play made by any skill player this preseason. On that 76-yard touchdown reception, Ivory either side-stepped, stiff-armed, outran or bulldozed every member of the San Diego defense.

OK, sure, he was facing defenders who are buried on the depth chart themselves, but still, that was a ridiculous play. If Ivory hadn't already made the Saints, he definitely secured a roster spot on Friday. That was his second TD of the preseason; he's now gained 217 total yards on 38 touches.

And to be perfectly honest for the second time in this blog post — an unusual display of honesty around here — I have no idea what to do with Ivory for fantasy purposes. When a guy flashes ability like that, and he's connected to one of the NFL's elite offenses, you like to add him somewhere in your fantasy portfolio. I'm looking for spots in deeper formats.

Of course that preseason score may have been the peak of Ivory's football life. Things like that happen all the time. He had as unimpressive a collegiate career as you can imagine — check out Ivory's Washington State football bio. Ick. He was fired by the Cougars, then finished up at Division II Tiffin University, which, if I'm not mistaken, is actually a culinary institute that specializes in desserts.

But we know the Saints have a history of turning undrafted players (Pierre Thomas(notes)) and late-round picks (Marques Colston(notes)) into fantasy stars. We also know that Sean Payton prefers a deep rotation of running backs. And we further know that at 6-foot-0 and 222 pounds, Ivory has Mike Bell(notes)-like dimensions. Just keep him on the fantasy radar, and assign him new coordinates on the sleeper grid

fantasy radar, not just yet. making the team yes, he accomplished that last night. i believe were going to see betts run for his nfl life next week against the titans. and i think payton wants so much for betts to succede to have that experience in the backfield.

Yeah Betts did a good job in DC when Portis was hurt, then Betts was sidelined with injury himself. Betts is also a strong competitor and is a team player with a great attitude. But yes Ivory was very impressive and is headed for a roster spot. The good thing is there are options. However I still wish Mike Bell was with us.

Ya know,,,,,,this "IVORY SOAP" kid,,,looks like Ricky Williams, slash like Barry Sanders...bulldozed like Bo Jackson,,,Stiff arm like Jeremy Shockey,,,,,looks like we got us a good one , people!! Hes a keeper.

I think right now Chris Ivory has to be the favorite for that #3 RB position. There still is another week worth of practices + 1 more preseason game, but Ivory showed he wants to take charge of that spot and not give the coaches any doubt about his heart and work ethic. That's one of my questions as well: if the Saints decide to go with Ivory for their #3 back, will the Saints keep Ladell Betts? I think they would cut him, to be honest, in that situation.

In case you didn't know, Bell has been injured as well for the Eagles.

Does Betts make the team ?

Tough one Q..

Yeah a tough one

Do we keep 4?

We kept 4 last year, so its possible. I think Graham has forced us to keep 4 TE's though, so that may force numbers down elsewhere.

3QB, 4RB, 1FB, 8OL, 6WR, 4TE = 1 too many.

Gotta drop someone.

I thought I read somewhere that if a team keeps 3QB's they get an extra roster spot. If so, that could help us.

I think thats active gameday. 45 players plus an extra 3rd QB if you have one.

We can still only have a 53 man team roster.

Ivory looks promising but I'm holding out judgement until he plays in a real game where juking and stiff arming 8 defenders just ain't gonna happen. What scares me about him is he may try and create something when defenses tighten up and put shame on himself where Betts would know better. Then again, Betts likely would not hold up the entire season and we would be on the car lot again in mid season. I say keep both of em' and look at thinning our receivers.

Yep I see us keeping 4 RB's.

I can see this as well...we might run the wildcat....lol

I can see us keeping 4 RBs with the injury history at the position. As far as running the wildcat, Payton has already said he doesn't really want to take the ball out of Drew Brees' hands, and I don't blame him. WR is probably the position they're looking at. You saw them try out Arrington in special teams, if he could do both he has a much better shot to make the team. Some of these guys who are on the bubble need to be able to play special teams and a position, so I think it'll come down to that.

I really dont believe Arrington will flurish in the return game .Chris "poison" Ivory will earn everything he gets. IMO props to our scouting team for finding a dam good RB that the other 31 teams failed to.:doh:

I don't know. Arrington didn't look very good in the return game against the Chargers.

I agree it's like he's just too lanky and lacks the shiftiness needed..now once he gets going it may be a different story but from non moving position waiting for the ball to fall out the sky,his initial start up doesn't look too hot.what about that one return he just hit the deck where I thought he had enough room to get some yds.

Oops. I must have misread your statement about Arrington. I thought you said that he WOULD flourish in the return game. Sorry about that.

I edited it :doh:..my mistake lol typo

Ivory has only two question marks now- can he deliver on screens and dumps. He is also an unknown quantity in blitz pickup.

Well that 76 yard TD run he had WAS basically a screen, but don't forget we have Bush or PT for that. He doesn't have to be an every down back. He just needs to be good at goal line and the occasional short-yardage situations. Based on that, I think he's already made the team, but we'll see how he does until then.

I just wish Ivory would have waited a game to pull that off (after my draft)